Yesterday I decided that I had reached new levels of hard-coredity and was ready to move forward with my very first facial tattoo. That is to say, I decided to take my dearly beloved cosmetologist up on her offer of Permanent Make-up. We started with my eyebrows {If you follow me on instagram, then apologies if you are one of the people I freaked out with my sometimes off-kilter sense of humor, when I shared my before and afters yesterday} with plans for upper & lower liner close behind.

The process began with Tess, the highly trained technician with whom I entrusted this borderline insanity, applying numbing cream to my eyebrows and surrounding area. Thus, the saran wrap on my forehead in the photo above. I mean, Hard. Core.(And although this is perhaps the most extreme treatment I’ve ever had Tess perform on me [she’s also my go-to for lash extensions, which you know I’m obsessed with] I can assure you I’ve had her run a gauntlet of cosmetic weirdness before allowing her to tattoo my face.)

The adorable and talented Tess with her plethora of fancy diplomas.
{obviously, I was a little too amped to take a non-blurry picture.}

Tess showed me her tools, which were not the vibrating tattoo gun you might be imagining, but actually, as she explained, kind of like a smaller, modern, sterile-packaged, single-use version of what would be used in the traditional Tebori tattoo technique popularized in Japan.

Once I was sufficiently numb (not totally numb, mind you) and my brows had been given a quick once over and wax (BUT NO SHAVING – I TOTALLY STILL HAVE REAL EYEBROWS TOO) to make sure Tess had a good shape to follow, we were ready to rumble.

The worst part of the whole ordeal for me was the nose itch that comes with eyebrow mutilation (if you’ve ever been tweezed you know what I’m talking about) and the extreme amount of willpower it takes to not scrunch your eyebrows when something hurts you. Because what’s hurting you is that someone is tattooing over those very eyebrows and trust me when I say scrunching isn’t doing anybody any favors.

Honestly, on a pain scale of 1-10, I’d give this a four, max. A little more painful than a regular tattoo [in a fatty area, even though your forehead clearly is not a fatty area, but I’m just saying getting a regular tattoo on my hip was definitely more painful than this, while getting one on my back fat was not] because there’s no buzzing from the motor to numb the pricks, but not really any more painful than it might be to have your brows tweezed out one by one (which, to be clear, they were not — still have eyebrows, that was just an analogy for pain). Tess kept the numbing cream flowing so overall it was pretty darn bearable. There was hand-wringing and eye watering for sure, but I mostly kept up the chatter through the whole process, which — anyone who’s been through childbirth knows — means you aren’t really in that much pain.

Anyway, when all is said and done I will have natural-looking-yet-polished brows (I just made up that term) that require little to no maintenance ever. I’ll be able to follow the line when I tweeze, and if I mess it up it won’t matter because my brows are perma-filled. {Where by “perma” I mean “a maximum of five years” because that’s another difference between this and getting an actual tattoo on your face, these pigments are made up of yellows which degrade over time, and there’s even an antidote pigment that will obliterate the color if your Esthetician were to make a mistake, but I digress}. I went for a blond pigment, to match my natural hair color, rather than a red pigment to match my current hair color, because you know…permanent or not, five years is still a really long time.

{above my pre-ink half-tinted eyebrow, on the left is the pigment
that was used, and on the right is the color that will appear while healing.
By next week my Tammy-Faye brows will have lightened to the color on the left.}

If I must, I can still tint my brows to match my hair color of the moment, but my new permanent makeup will prevent me from ever doing anything as absurd as THIS to myself ever again.

So far, I’m pretty psyched. I’ll share my healed photos with you guys sometime next week. I’m also holding out hope that I can convince Scott that permanent eye liner and a natural tint to my very pale lips are the final touches needed to complete my no-makeup required, roll out of bed to chase after toddler already looking human master plan. You say lazy, I say efficient.Tomato, tomaaaahto.

Is this your first time? Look, I know we just met, but I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful thing. You can subscribe to my RSS feed, follow me on Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, or even Facebook. But whatever. I'm breezy

I have been seriously considering this, but I’ve held back because I don’t know anyone in real life who has done it. You’re giving me the courage! My eyelashes are so sparse on the edges that I ALWAYS have to fill them in. It would be so nice to not have to do this every day!

Oh Dude, I am obsessed already. I LOVE how my brows turned out and I never really thought I had a real issue with my brows. I basically went for brows first because it seemed the least risky to see if I liked it before going for lids and lips, but now I’m very seriously considering both! DO it! My girl is awesome, although not super close to you, I trust her implicitly.

Lips. I get the appeal, because as I age, my lips have gotten increasingly pale. But color? Is it just beefing you up to a natural color? Do you have to choose a tint and then you’re stuck with it forever. I have never explored this before, and you’re planting a seed.

I had this done about 6 months ago and LOVE IT! I barely had eyebrows ( runs in my family) and my esthetician told me it would make me look years younger…I am 48. I cannot believe the difference it made and go out a lot without makeup now. Definitely one of the best things I have done for myself!

I am 59 and had my eyebrows and lips done 6 years ago. It’s interesting that you mentioned it lasts only 3 to 5. I think mine have faded some, but my daughters don’t agree. The eyebrows hurt about like waxing….but I won’t kid you, the lips were tough. I’d say more like an 8. But after it was over, I loved it and have continued loving it for 6 years. When I do need to have them re-done, I absolutely will do it!

About 7 years ago I had my eyebrows AND my lips done. Best thing ever!! I need to go back and have them re-done. It’s definitely worth the money and the pain. I highly suggest paying extra to a dentist to numb your lips right before your appointment. Then, head straight home, lol… you don’t want anyone seeing you with those swollen lips. :)

I had my upper and lower eyeliner tattooed in August of 2008. I have 3 tattoos on various parts of my body and they were a piece of cake. But it took everything I had not to jump out of the chair when having the eyeliner done! I live in the south and the lady who did mine has a wonderful reputation and I had seen her work on other people and was very impressed. I had to take a break after she did my right eye. I went to the bathroom, looked in the mirror and about freaked out!! My right eye was already swelling humongously and it looked like someone had taken a black Sharpie and circled my right eye with it. I knew that I had to have my left eye done or I was really gonna look weird. She repeatedly applied the numbing cream but I promise you, it really didn’t feel like it was working. I could feel everything. In my mind at the time, all I could think of was that the pain felt like someone was taking a razor blade and running it across my upper and lower lashes. After 2 1/2 hours of torture, I threw on my sunglasses and drove the 30 minute drive home. I kept ice packs on my eyes for the next week and tried to rest as much as possible. I was also on vacation that week and I’m pretty sure I traumatized several small children with my swollen black lined eyes. After the swelling went down and the skin quit peeling, I LOVE the permanent eyeliner!! It’s a beautiful shade of blue gray like I asked for. I was supposed to go back in for a touch up, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Mine has faded a little but I’m gonna hold out as long as possible before I consider going back in for a refresher. Now I’m not a wimp, I have gone through natural child birth twice, stepped in a hole and snapped the ligament in my foot, had a vein ripped out of my leg and had various other injuries but the thought of the pain of re-doing the permanent eyeliner scares me!! I have very sensitive eyes and that may be the reason it hurt me so much. The permanent eyeliner along with my eyelash extensions have made me feel better about myself and if I need to go out in a rush and don’t have time for makeup, I feel like I look presentable. The woman who did my eyeliner did tell me that blue eyed fair skinned people did experience more pain with permanent eyeliner than dark eyed darker skinned people. Hope my experience doesn’t scare you, I love mine but I wish someone would have told me that there was the possibility that it could really hurt. Good luck!! And your brows look gorgeous!!

I have thin brows and I have difficulty getting them in the shape I want with my powder. I’ve had days where I do my eye makeup for work and I leave the house only to see that I didn’t fill in my brows and that some of the powder from the day before has rubbed off I’ve seen a lot of different ideas of tattooing brows but have been terrified of actually doing it.

How long did it take for it to heal? Did it look out of the ordinary while they were healing? Does it peel like a normal tattoo? I am thinking about actually committing to getting this done. How many sessions did it take to get your brows to look how you wanted?

I had my eyebrows done in March and it was the best decision I ever made! I was one of those people who would NOT leave the house without drawing on my brows. It was crippling. Black girl with no eyebrows = Whoopi Goldberg. Seriously. Jumpin’ Jack Flash. Anyway, they’ve faded some already and I will absolutely go in again!

I just had my eyebrows done this past Dec. 2014. I love them. If your used to tweezing them then it’s a piece of cake. I had very little swelling in the area. This was done at Plastic and hand surgeon in a medical facility. I will go back on the 19th of Jan. for a touchup as one is just slightly higher but she sees it as no problem to adjust and these little mishaps happen that’s why we have a follow up. What a relief to know I don’t have to draw them on any more. She said it can last up to 10 years and if I need a touch up it would be around $100.00.